My apologies for not updating sooner, my break from writing turned out to be longer than I intended as things have been pretty rough this week. I am hoping to resume normal posting frequency from now on.
The drive to the hospital was an uncomfortable one, both Eric and Andy had been unnerved by what they had found at Horatio's house but neither man was willing to let the other know what they thought. Andy glanced around the interior of the Hummer as Eric drove, admiring the high-tech equipment that was installed as standard in MDPD vehicles. "Sure beats the old piles of crap they gave us to drive back in New York," he thought to himself.
He gave Eric a withering glare as they pulled up in the hospital parking lot, "Unless I'm mistaken, kid, this isn't my motel."
Eric took the keys out of the ignition and turned to face his reluctant passenger, "You need to talk to him."
"You keep saying that, I haven't got anything else left to say to him. He made his choice and now he's going to have to live with it." He folded his arms across his chest as if to reiterate his point.
Frustrated at the other man's stonewalling he took a deep breath and tried again, "Look, I get it. You feel like he betrayed you but the man I know wouldn't have done something like that without a damn good reason. You owe it to him to at least hear him out."
"I don't owe him shit." Andy shot back.
"Why don't you put your pride to one side and think about what's right. If he dies and you didn't do anything to help do you really think you could live with yourself?" The older man remained resolutely defiant in his position, "I always thought H was a pretty good judge of character. Looks like he was wrong about you." Shaking his head sadly, Eric climbed out of the Hummer and slammed the door closed behind him leaving his taciturn passenger behind.
Eric stalked through the hospital corridors as he made his way to the ICU, trying to contain his fiery Cuban temper. Horatio was in serious danger, he had hoped his old partner would have helped track down the people trying to kill him and was bitterly disappointed when Andy Sipowicz was found wanting. He found it hard to believe what the other man had said; Horatio Caine was no dirty cop. If he had done the things Andy said he had then there was surely a good reason for it. If only Horatio could remember, he would be able to explain it to them and then they would at least have an idea of how to help him out of his predicament.
Calleigh smiled as she saw Eric enter the waiting area, grateful to see a familiar and friendly face. They embraced briefly before stepping apart, "How's he doing?" Eric asked as he guided Calleigh to one of the chairs.
"He's sleeping, I think. He's been pretty out of it for most of the day."
"I can go in there, if you need a break." He offered.
She gave him a watery smile in return, "That would be great. I just need to go home and freshen up; I could do with a change of scenery for a while."
He placed his hand on top of hers, "Take as long as you need. I'll make sure he's safe here." He looked towards Horatio's room and saw the two uniformed officers standing guard outside, Calleigh had the whole ICU locked down tighter than a prison in a riot.
She picked her bag up and gave Eric a quick kiss on the cheek, "I'll be back in a few hours. Did you drop his clothes off at the lab?"
"Yep, along with the evidence we collected. Ryan and Walter are processing it at the moment; they'll ring if they get any leads."
She had walked halfway across the waiting room before she looked over her shoulder, glancing at the door to Horatio's room and then back to Eric. "Look after him, Eric."
He nodded his head and rolled his eyes as she walked down the corridor before pulling himself from his seat and entering the room where his friend was laying.
Calleigh was right, he didn't look good. Walking closer to the bed he could see the perspiration on the other man's face as he grimaced and groaned quietly. He sat down in the chair quietly so as not to wake his friend but realised it was probably not worth it, he looked completely out of it. He leant back in the chair and glanced at his watch, "Plenty of time to think about how we're going to get out of this mess," he told himself silently.
She was grateful to be out in the open again; the sterile white walls of the hospital had felt as if they were closing in on her the longer she stayed there. She was torn, half of her glad for the break whilst the other half yearned to be at Horatio's bedside. He had got himself deep into something serious, he was in no condition to defend himself, right now she and Eric were the only ones standing in the way of him and the Malucci's who it seemed were hell-bent on revenge at any cost.
After nipping home for a hot shower and a change of clothes she made her way to the lab. As she walked down the glass-plated halls she was stopped by Ryan calling out to her, changing direction she entered the room he and Walter were in. "Hey, Calleigh," he greeted her with an awkward smile, "How's H?"
"Hanging in there." She looked over to the items that the men were processing, "Have you got something for me?"
"Uh, yeah. Sorry," Ryan tapped the keys of his computer until he pulled up the correct screen. "All of the blood we found at the house comes from the Rattus Norvegicus more commonly known as the brown rat. Tom did an autopsy on the rodent we found at the scene, he said it'd been dead for at least three days and was a typical sewer rat found pretty much anywhere in the county. Cause of death was a broken neck; I suppose it's something that the nail hammered through its body was done post mortem." He mentally kicked himself as he saw the blood drain from Calleigh's face at his cold and clinical assessment of the evidence.
It took her a few moments to regain her composure, "Write up your findings and leave the report on Horatio's desk. Eric or I will pick it up tomorrow." She left and made her way to the locker room in a daze, Eric had told her what had happened at Horatio's house but seeing the evidence laid out in front of her made the whole thing more real somehow. Collecting the holdall that Eric had left she began to make her way to the exit but not before she had stopped at Horatio's office first.
Making sure that no one was around she closed the door and sat at his desk, turning on the computer she entered her password and accessed the database search function. She typed in the name 'Collins' as she searched the criminal databases and when that turned up nothing concrete she tried government employee records hoping on the off-chance that Horatio had been working undercover. She frowned as the computer brought up 23 search results; she narrowed the search parameters by excluding anyone who had been employed after 1993. Three results left. Finally, she excluded anyone who had not been assigned to a field office in the state of New York. "At last" she thought as the search had been narrowed down to one person, feeling as if she was getting somewhere she clicked on his name and searched the page for vital information. "Special Agent Richard Collins, FBI," she read aloud to herself, "Joined the Bureau in 1987." She frowned as the information ended there. She knew that it was a long shot, the man probably had nothing to do with Horatio but she had to try.
Not to be deterred she pulled out her cell phone and rang Frank who answered with a gruff, "Trip. What is it?"
"Frank, I need you to do some more digging for me. I need to know everything you can find out about an FBI agent called Richard Collins."
Recognising the familiar voice his tone softened, "Sure thing, I'll see what my contacts say and get back to you," Seeing what the Malucci's had done to his friend's house had unnerved him more than he was willing to admit, "Be careful out there, Calleigh. These assholes might try to come at us to get to Horatio."
"I will, Frank. Keep your eyes open too."
She placed her phone on the desk as the computer bleeped at her, "New email" it read. With a sense of dread she opened it and read:
"Today's message was just the beginning, things are about to get a whole lot worse. And just so you know, you won't find me unless I want you to."